Slow and Steady MLB Pitchers: Patrick Corbin
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The Nationals have been a disappointment, but that’s not the fault of the three aces, Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg and Corbin. All three have ERAs of 3.64 and lower.
Of the three, Patrick Corbin (3-1, 3.20) is decidedly the softest tosser. His heater tops out at 91.2 mph, keeping him in the lowest third for pure speed. His 2019 season to date has been a bit uneven, including an April 29 start in St. Louis in which he allowed six earned runs in five innings.
But that represents one-third of all the earned runs Corbin has allowed this season. In his other seven starts, he has compiled a 2.58 ERA.
His season-long strength has been an ability to avoid the hitting zone. Only 5.9 percent of Corbin pitches have touched the most hittable areas of the strike zone, while more than four in 10 have flirted with the corners. His soft ground ball percentage exceeds 33 percent.
His record is uneven. Corbin allows a troubling 28.5 percent of balls to be lifted into the air, and the 10.4 degree launch angle – while not extremely high – is up from just 7 percent the past two seasons. At 11.5 percent, his barrel rate is also high, suggesting that part of Corbin’s record to date may be due to good fortune.